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The rake

“In the game of life, women are the f—n’ rake.”

You can’t ever quote Rounders enough. At least I can’t. And while I’d love to spend this entire article talking about women, I think the better choice is to focus on the rake.

The rake is part of a poker player’s life. You can’t escape it in the casinos. It’s enough of a nuisance and money cut that groups of players stick to home games and rotate the deal to avoid it. You definitely gotta trust the folks you’re playing with, but if you do, it’s not a bad option. Just realize you’re going to be passing money back and forth on a regular basis without some fresh blood.

But back to the casinos. It’s helpful to find out how much of a bite the rake takes in difference level games of Texas Hold ‘Em. You might think you’re saving yourself rake costs by playing lower stakes, but you’re also winning less. Let’s take a closer look here.

For three lower levels of Hold ‘Em ($1/$2, $2/$4 and $3/$6), the rake percentages are actually noticeably different. From reading research online through many trials, the average rake per hand on a $2/$4 bet spread was about 62 cents. That worked out to nearly 2.9% of the average pot. For $3/$6, the average percentage was higher at 3.2. So you get bled for a higher rate in the higher game – kinda makes sense. However, the pots, the study found, don’t get equally larger to compensate for the added rake, making the $3/$6 game a worse proposition considering rake alone.

The higher the rake gets, the higher the number of hands you’re forced to play to get ahead of it. However, by playing more hands, this increases the amount you’re getting raked, and thus a neverending and incredibly frustrating cycle is born.